The authorities of Chili they deployed vast operations of the security forces and ordered a curfew night in three communes of Araucanía, in the south of the country, while they search for the armed group that murdered three police officers and then burned their bodies, in an attack that Gabriel Boric’s government described as “never seen.”
In the midst of a police operation that is carried out in the commune of Cañete, Biobío region, Carabineros detained three people during the afternoon of this Sunday, reported the Emol website. According to preliminary information provided by the institution, the subjects were being transferred to the Cañete police station for “an investigative identity control.” It was later clarified that they are at the Tirúa Public Order Control (COP) police station.
Yes ok It has not yet been confirmed whether the proceedings are linked to the investigations related to the murder of the police officers. Carlos Cisterna, Sergio Arévalo and Misael Vidal, and their possible authors, did take place very close to where the events occurred.
The triple homicide occurred early Saturday morning, in the town of Cañete, 500 km south of Santiago, the same day that the police institution celebrated a new anniversary. It was considered the worst attack against police forces in the area, where frequent arson attacks occur, especially against forestry machinery.
“This is a type of attack that has never been seen before” in Chile, the Minister of the Interior of that country, Carolina Tohá, said this Sunday in an interview with Channel 13. The unusual nature of the event is based on “the level of violence” and the deployment of resources used in its execution, the official explained.
The police officers were ambushed when they went aboard an armored truck to supervise compliance with a night-time prison measure. Along the way, they engaged in several confrontations.
The police died due to gunshot wounds and, Once they were dead, they were put into the back of the truck, which was set on fire. They also stole the weapons they were carrying and their helmets, Minister Tohá explained.
Four prosecutors are carrying out the investigation and for now no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. As part of the operations, three communes in the province of Arauco were placed under night curfew.
The minister reaffirmed the general director of the police, Ricardo Yáñez, in his positionwho must face a formalization hearing on May 7 for his responsibility in cases of human rights violations in the October 2019 protests. “At this moment there can be no changes in the command of the police,” said Tohá.
The area where the attack occurred is under military guard due to the arson attacks that have occurred there, mostly attributed to radical Mapuche groups, the largest Chilean ethnic group, which demands the restitution of ancestral lands. Gangs dedicated to wood theft have also been disrupted there.
This week the government had celebrated the reduction by half of violent actions compared to the beginning of President Gabriel Boric’s administration, in March 2022.
The Chilean Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, announced this Sunday that The Government will file a complaint against those responsible for the murder. “The complaints that the Government is going to present are going to be for homicide against Carabineros, violation of the Weapons Law and for criminal organization,” said Monsalve, who assured that, although the Executive would like to file a complaint for the Anti-Terrorist Law, this “would not allow be sufficiently effective or apply the highest penalties.
According to Monsalve, if the evidence is proven before the Court, the three reported crimes carry a qualified life sentence. “We are aspiring to the highest penalties,” added the authority in statements to the press from the scene.
Monsalve confirmed that this Sunday the bodies of the three police officers will be delivered to their families and also noted that security measures in the area will be evaluated.
The regions of Araucanía and Bio Bío have been the scene of a conflict for decades which involves indigenous peoples, the State and large landowners and forestry businessmen who exploit lands and forests considered ancestral by indigenous communities.
Since May 2022, the areas affected by the conflict have been under a state of emergency, in an attempt to control attacks, mostly incendiary sabotage by armed groups.
